System and method for user confirmation of online transactions

ABSTRACT

A system, apparatus, method, and machine readable medium are described for confirming a user transaction. For example, one embodiment of a method comprises: detecting at a relying party a transaction triggered by a first user over a network and performing one or more authentication techniques to authenticate the first user to the relying party over the network; identifying one or more other users who are required to confirm the transaction before allowing the transaction to be performed, the one or more other users being registered with the relying party; transmitting notifications to the one or more other users or a subset thereof indicating that a transaction has been triggered by the first user; and the one or more other users or subset thereof confirming the transaction by performing remote authentication with the relying party over the network.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit of and priority to U.S. ProvisionalPatent Application No. 61/804,568, filed, Mar. 22, 2013, entitled,“Advanced Methods of Authentication And Its Applications”.

BACKGROUND Field of the Invention

This invention relates generally to the field of data processingsystems. More particularly, the invention relates to a system and methodfor user confirmation of online transactions.

Description of Related Art

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary client 120 with a biometric device 100.When operated normally, a biometric sensor 102 reads raw biometric datafrom the user (e.g., capture the user's fingerprint, record the user'svoice, snap a photo of the user, etc) and a feature extraction module103 extracts specified characteristics of the raw biometric data (e.g.,focusing on certain regions of the fingerprint, certain facial features,etc). A matcher module 104 compares the extracted features 133 withbiometric reference data 110 stored in a secure storage on the client120 and generates a score based on the similarity between the extractedfeatures and the biometric reference data 110. The biometric referencedata 110 is typically the result of an enrollment process in which theuser enrolls a fingerprint, voice sample, image or other biometric datawith the device 100. An application 105 may then use the score todetermine whether the authentication was successful (e.g., if the scoreis above a certain specified threshold).

While the system shown in FIG. 1 is oriented towards biometricauthentication, various other or additional authentication techniquesmay be employed on the exemplary client 120. For example, theclient-side authenticators may be based on a PIN or other secret code(e.g., a password) entered by the user and/or may be triggered based onuser presence (e.g., a button that user pushes to verify presence).

Systems have been designed for providing secure user authentication overa network using biometric sensors. In such systems, the score generatedby the application, and/or other authentication data, may be sent over anetwork to authenticate the user with a remote server. For example,Patent Application No. 2011/0082801 (“'801 Application”) describes aframework for user registration and authentication on a network whichprovides strong authentication (e.g., protection against identity theftand phishing), secure transactions (e.g., protection against “malware inthe browser” and “man in the middle” attacks for transactions), andenrollment/management of client authentication tokens (e.g., fingerprintreaders, facial recognition devices, smartcards, trusted platformmodules, etc).

The assignee of the present application has developed a variety ofimprovements to the authentication framework described in the '801application. Some of these improvements are described in the followingset of U.S. patent applications (“Co-pending Applications”), all filedDec. 29, 1012, which are assigned to the present assignee andincorporated herein by reference: Ser. No. 13/730,761, Query System andMethod to Determine Authentication Capabilities; Ser. No. 13/730,776,System and Method for Efficiently Enrolling, Registering, andAuthenticating With Multiple Authentication Devices; Ser. No.13/730,780, System and Method for Processing Random Challenges Within anAuthentication Framework; Ser. No. 13/730,791, System and Method forImplementing Privacy Classes Within an Authentication Framework; Ser.No. 13/730,795, System and Method for Implementing Transaction SignalingWithin an Authentication Framework.

Briefly, the Co-Pending Applications describe authentication techniquesin which a user enrolls with biometric devices of a client to generatebiometric template data (e.g., by swiping a finger, snapping a picture,recording a voice, etc); registers the biometric devices with one ormore servers over a network (e.g., Websites or other relying partiesequipped with secure transaction services as described in the Co-PendingApplications); and subsequently authenticates with those servers usingdata exchanged during the registration process (e.g., encryption keysprovisioned into the biometric devices). Once authenticated, the user ispermitted to perform one or more online transactions with a Website orother relying party. In the framework described in the Co-PendingApplications, sensitive information such as fingerprint data and otherdata which can be used to uniquely identify the user, may be retainedlocally on the user's client device (e.g., smartphone, notebookcomputer, etc) to protect a user's privacy.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A better understanding of the present invention can be obtained from thefollowing detailed description in conjunction with the followingdrawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary client equipped with a biometric device;

FIG. 2 illustrates one embodiment of a system for user confirmation ofonline transactions;

FIG. 3 illustrates details of one embodiment of a client used in asystem for user confirmation of online transactions;

FIG. 4 illustrates one embodiment of a method for user confirmation ofonline transactions;

FIG. 5 illustrates one embodiment of a system for delegating trust to anew client device from a trusted client device;

FIG. 6 illustrates additional details for one embodiment of a system fordelegating trust to a new client device from a trusted client device;

FIG. 7 illustrates one embodiment of a method for delegating trust to anew client device from a trusted client device;

FIG. 8 illustrates one embodiment of a method for verifying a trustdelegation provided to a new client device from a trusted client device;and

FIG. 9 illustrates one embodiment of a system for synchronizing privatedata between devices;

FIG. 10 illustrates one embodiment of a method for adding a device to atrust circle;

FIG. 11 illustrates one embodiment of a method for synchronizing databetween devices;

FIGS. 12A-B illustrate exemplary system architectures on which theembodiments of the invention may be implemented.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Described below are embodiments of an apparatus, method, andmachine-readable medium for performing multiple-user confirmation foronline transactions. Throughout the description, for the purposes ofexplanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to providea thorough understanding of the present invention. It will be apparent,however, to one skilled in the art that the present invention may bepracticed without some of these specific details. In other instances,well-known structures and devices are not shown or are shown in a blockdiagram form to avoid obscuring the underlying principles of the presentinvention.

The embodiments of the invention discussed below involve client deviceswith authentication capabilities such as biometric devices or PIN entry.These devices are sometimes referred to herein as “tokens,”“authentication devices,” or “authenticators.” While certain embodimentsfocus on facial recognition hardware/software (e.g., a camera andassociated software for recognizing a user's face and tracking a user'seye movement), some embodiments may utilize additional biometric devicesincluding, for example, fingerprint sensors, voice recognitionhardware/software (e.g., a microphone and associated software forrecognizing a user's voice), and optical recognition capabilities (e.g.,an optical scanner and associated software for scanning the retina of auser). The authentication capabilities may also include non-biometricdevices such as trusted platform modules (TPMs) and smartcards.

In a mobile biometric implementation, the biometric device may be remotefrom the relying party. As used herein, the term “remote” means that thebiometric sensor is not part of the security boundary of the computer itis communicatively coupled to (e.g., it is not embedded into the samephysical enclosure as the relying party computer). By way of example,the biometric device may be coupled to the relying party via a network(e.g., the Internet, a wireless network link, etc) or via a peripheralinput such as a USB port. Under these conditions, there may be no wayfor the relying party to know if the device is one which is authorizedby the relying party (e.g., one which provides an acceptable level ofauthentication and integrity protection) and/or whether a hacker hascompromised the biometric device. Confidence in the biometric devicedepends on the particular implementation of the device.

The term “relying party” is sometimes used herein to refer, not merelyto the entity with which a user transaction is attempted (e.g., aWebsite or online service performing user transactions), but also to thesecure transaction servers implemented on behalf of that entity whichmay performed the underlying authentication techniques described herein.The secure transaction servers may be owned and/or under the control ofthe relying party or may be under the control of a third party offeringsecure transaction services to the relying party as part of a businessarrangement.

The term “server” is used herein to refer to software executed on ahardware platform (or across multiple hardware platforms) that receivesrequests over a network from a client, responsively performs one or moreoperations, and transmits a response to the client, typically includingthe results of the operations. The server responds to client requests toprovide, or help to provide, a network “service” to the clients.Significantly, a server is not limited to a single computer (e.g., asingle hardware device for executing the server software) and may, infact, be spread across multiple hardware platforms, potentially atmultiple geographical locations.

Embodiments for User Confirmation for Online Transactions

There are various scenarios where completing a transaction with arelying party may require approval from one or more other users. By wayof example, and not limitation, a parent may want to approve a financialtransaction initiated by a child, a commander may need to approve atransaction initiated by a soldier, a manager may need to approve abusiness transaction initiated by an employee, and a cryptographic keymanagement system may require multiple users to approve a particulartransaction before it can be committed.

One embodiment of the invention uses the techniques described herein forproviding strong authentication of users over a network to enablemulti-user confirmation applications. One such example is illustrated inFIG. 2 which shows a client device with remote authenticationcapabilities 200 controlled by a user attempting to initiate atransaction with a relying party with secure transaction services 250(hereinafter simply referred to as “relying party”). In one embodiment,the user of client device 200 authenticates with the relying party 250using one or more of the remote authentication techniques describedherein (e.g., providing biometric input such as swiping a finger on afingerprint sensor, entering a PIN or password, etc).

In the illustrated embodiment, other client devices 201-202 have userswho are registered with the relying party as “approvers” for the user ofclient device 200. Thus, for certain types of transactions (e.g.,financial transactions involving amounts over a specified threshold),the relying party may require approval from the users of client devices201-202. As discussed below, the remote authentication techniquesdescribed herein are employed as part of the approval process.

In one embodiment, in response to a successful authentication by theuser of client device 200, notification generation logic at the relyingparty 250 sends a notification the other client devices 201-202 withusers registered as “approvers” indicating that the user of clientdevice 200 is attempting to complete a transaction. The notification maybe sent in a variety of ways in accordance with the underlyingprinciples of the invention. For example, if the client devices 201-202are mobile devices, then a push notification may be sent to the clientdevices 201-202. Alternatively, or in addition, the notification may besent via email, text message (e.g., SMS), instant message, or any othertechnology capable of delivering a message to the client devices201-202.

In one embodiment, the notification includes details of the transactionbeing attempted by the user of client device 200. For example, if thetransaction is a financial transaction, then the notification mayinclude the particular amount of money being processed and the type offinancial transaction being performed (e.g., withdrawal, transferbetween accounts, etc). Alternatively, the notification may include alink such as a hyperlink or other type of pointer directing the users ofclient devices 201-202 to an approval service on the relying party. Uponselection of the link, the users of client devices 201-202 may beprovided with details of the transaction (e.g., in a Web page or otheruseful format for providing information).

In one embodiment, upon responding to the notifications and reviewingthe details of the transaction, the users of client devices 201-202 mayconfirm the request by performing remote authentication with the relyingparty (e.g., using the multi-factor authentication techniques describedherein) and indicating an approval of the transaction.

Additional architectural details of a client device 200-202 employed inone embodiment of the invention are illustrated in FIG. 3. Inparticular, the client devices 200-202 of this embodiment includes asecure transaction application 304 for communicating with the relyingparty 250 and coordinating the transaction approval techniques describedherein. The secure transaction application 304 may be a stand-aloneapplication which interfaces with the authentication engine 310 via asecure application programming interface (API). Alternatively, thesecure transaction application 304 may be implemented as a mobile deviceapp or a Web browser plugin.

In addition to coordinating the user confirmation process describedherein, in one embodiment, the secure transaction application 304ensures that the text displayed to each user is the actual text relatedto the transaction. For example, the application 304 may display textwithin a secure window and ask the user to provide authentication toconfirm the transaction. The application may initiate a timer andperiodically verify the content of the current window being displayed tothe user (e.g., by generating a signature on the content). The period ofverification may be randomly chosen. Thus, the application continuallyensures that each user sees the valid transaction details in the window(thereby ensuring that the transaction text has not been modified by a“man in the middle” attack). If the application detects that the contenthas been tampered with it prevents the confirmation of the transactionfrom being generated.

In one embodiment, after the a user provides valid authentication (e.g.,swipes a finger on the fingerprint sensor), the client device identifiesthe user and generates a token (cryptographic signature) with thetransaction details (e.g., the displayed text) and a random challengeprovided from the relying party (e.g., the token may be a signature overthe transaction details and a nonce). This allows the relying party 250ensure that the transaction details have not been modified between theserver and the client. In one embodiment, the application 304 sends thegenerated token and username to the relying party, which then identifiesthe user with the username and verifies the token. If verificationsucceeds, a confirmation message is sent to the client and thetransaction is processed.

The above techniques may be implemented for both the transactionrequest/confirmation originating from the client device 200 and for theapproval transactions originating from the users of client devices201-202.

Returning to FIG. 3, in one embodiment, authentication may be performedvia an authentication engine 310 on the client devices 200-202 designedto perform a series of transactions with the relying party 250 toremotely authenticate each user. For example, as described in theco-pending applications an authentication framework and associatedauthentication techniques may be employed in which a user enrolls withbiometric devices 320-321 of a client to generate biometric templatedata (e.g., by swiping a finger, snapping a picture, recording a voice,etc); registers the biometric devices with one or more relying parties250 over a network (e.g., Websites or other relying parties equippedwith secure transaction services); and subsequently authenticates withthose relying parties 250 using data exchanged during the registrationprocess (e.g., encryption keys provisioned into the biometric devices).In one embodiment, “registration” with relying parties includesexchanging symmetric or asymmetric keys with the relying party for eachuser authentication device 320-321 and storing the keys within a securestorage 325 associated with each authentication devices 320-321. Asecure key provisioning protocol such as the Dynamic Symmetric KeyProvisioning Protocol (DSKPP) may be used to share keys with the clientover a secure communication channel (see, e.g., Request for Comments(RFC) 6063). However, the underlying principles of the invention are notlimited to any particular key provisioning protocol.

During the authentication phase, the keys are used, for example, togenerate signatures, verify signatures, and/or encrypt communicationbetween the clients 200-202 and the relying party 250. Onceauthenticated, the user is permitted to perform one or more onlinetransactions. In addition, in one embodiment, sensitive information suchas fingerprint data and other data which may uniquely identify the usermay be retained locally on the user's client device (e.g., smartphone,notebook computer, etc) to protect the user's privacy.

In one embodiment, the authentication engine 110 includes an assurancelevel calculation module 306 for calculating an assurance levelcorresponding to a likelihood that the legitimate user is in possessionof the client device 100. It may then use this assurance level todetermine whether the relying party 250 should authorize a currenttransaction. In one embodiment, the relying party 250 may specify thelevel of assurance required for a given transaction. For example, for afinancial transaction involving the transfer of a significant amount ofmoney, the relying party 250 may require a relatively higher assurancelevel than, for example, a transaction involving no exchange of money ormere access to a user information.

In one embodiment, the assurance level calculation module 106 transmitsthe assurance level (e.g., specified as a value, percentage, code, etc)to the relying party 250, without disclosing any confidential userinformation, thereby protecting the user's privacy. In anotherembodiment, the assurance level calculation module 306 knows theassurance level required for the current transaction, determines whetherthe assurance level is sufficiently high, and transmits an indication ofwhether the transaction is permitted or denied to the relying party 250(without disclosing the user's private information to the relying party250).

In one embodiment, the communication between the client devices 200-202and relying party 250 is secured via a secure communication module 313,which may encrypt outgoing communication using a first key and decryptincoming communication using a second key. In a symmetric key encryptionscheme the first and second keys are the same. In an asymmetric keyencryption scheme, the keys are different. However, the underlyingprinciples of the invention are not limited to any particular type ofencryption.

In one embodiment, the assurance level calculation module 306 determinesthe assurance level based, at least in part, on current userauthentication results 305 which may include the results of a current orrecent explicit user authentication via one or more explicit userauthentication devices 320-321. This may include, for example,fingerprint authentication via a fingerprint device, facial recognitionauthentication via a camera and facial recognition hardware/software,voice recognition via a microphone and voice recognitionhardware/software, retinal scanning using a camera and associatedhardware/software, a password/PIN entry by the end user via a keypad,and/or various other types of explicit user authentication devicesand/or techniques.

In one embodiment, the secure storage 325 cryptographically protects thebiometric reference data records for each user authentication device320-321 (e.g., wrapping the data using a symmetric key to make thestorage 325 secure). While the secure storage 325 is illustrated outsideof the secure perimeter of the authentication device(s) 320-321, in oneembodiment, each authentication device 320-321 may have its ownintegrated secure storage to cryptographically protect the biometricreference data records.

In addition to explicit user authentication, one embodiment of theauthentication engine 310 performs non-intrusive authentication bycollecting data from sensors 343 to be used by the assurance calculationmodule 306 to generate the assurance level. By way of example, thesensors 343 may include location sensors such as GPS sensors to indicatea current location of the user. If the client devices 200-202 are in anexpected location such as the known vicinity (e.g., a “home” or “office”location), then this increases the likelihood that the user is thelegitimate user. By contrast, if the GPS reading indicates that the useris not at an expected location, then this indicates that the userinitiating the transaction is not the legitimate user. Thus, in oneembodiment, the assurance calculation module 306 will increase theassurance level if the user is in an expected location and decrease theassurance level if the user is in an unexpected location.

Various additional sensors 343 such as temperature sensors, humiditysensors and accelerometers may be used to collect data relevant to userauthentication. For example, the temperature/humidity sensors mayprovide a current temperature/humidity which may be compared against theknown temperature/humidity for the location specified by the locationsensor. If the values are significantly different, then this mayindicate that the client devices 200-202 are being spoofed. Thecomparison of the asserted location and the temperature/humidity may bedone at a remote server such as the secure transaction server(s) used bythe relying party 250. In another embodiment, accelerometers on thedevice may be used to measure the gait of the user and compare thesemeasurements against the known gait of the user. If the gaits match(within a specified threshold), then this increases the likelihood thatthe legitimate user is in possession of the client device 200-202.

Another non-intrusive authentication technique comprises measuring anamount of time which has elapsed since the last successful userauthentication. For example, if the user has very recently performed anexplicit user authentication (e.g., swiping a finger on a fingerprintreader just a few minutes earlier), then this will tend to indicate thatthe legitimate user is still in possession of the client device (therebyresulting in a high baseline assurance level). By contrast, if the lastexplicit authentication has been several hours or several days earlier,then a new explicit user authentication may be required to reach anacceptable assurance level.

A method in accordance with one embodiment of the invention isillustrated in FIG. 4. At 401, the user of a client triggers atransaction which requires a confirmation by N other users. For example,the user's account at the relying party may indicate that certain typesof transactions initiated by the user (or all transactions) requireconfirmation by one or more other users. For example, the user's accountmay identify the user as a minor, requiring authorization by one or moreparents or guardians. The user is also authenticated at 401 byimplementing one or more of the authentication techniques describedherein.

At 402, the server selects N other users who must confirm thetransaction triggered by the user. For example, upon detecting theinitiation of the transaction by the user, the relying party may queryits user database to determine that the transaction requiresconfirmation and the identity of the users who can confirm thetransaction. In one embodiment, a subset of all of the users who arecapable of confirming the transaction may actually confirm thetransaction. For example, if the user is a minor with two parents then,in one embodiment, the notification may be sent to both parents, but aconfirmation by either parent will allow the transaction to proceed.Similarly, there may be 10 users who are authorized to confirm abusiness transaction, but only 2 confirmations are required to allow thetransaction to proceed.

In one embodiment, a push notification may be sent to the client devicesof those users who can confirm the transaction (e.g., if the users haveclient devices capable of receiving push notifications). Alternatively,or in addition, the notification may be sent via email, text message(e.g., SMS), instant message, or any other technology capable ofdelivering a message to the client devices. In one embodiment, a usermay be registered with the server to receive confirmation messagesthrough two or more communication channels. For example, a user mayreceive both a push notification and an email containing theconfirmation request.

Regardless of how the confirmation request is sent, at 403 all or asubset of the N users perform authentication with the server as part ofthe confirmation process. Any remote authentication techniques may beemployed to authenticate the users and confirm the transaction. Forexample, a user may confirm a transaction by providing biometric data toa biometric device on the client which has been previously registeredwith the relying party (e.g., swiping a finger on a fingerprintscanner). As mentioned above, the details associated with thetransaction may be provided to the users via a secure transactionapplication capable of securely displaying text and other information(i.e., ensuring that when a user confirms the transaction, he/she hasviewed the actual, unaltered text describing the transaction).

Once a minimum specified number of users have confirmed the request,determined at 404, then the transaction is permitted at 407. Oneembodiment of the method starts a confirmation timer to measure theamount of elapsed time since the confirmation requests were sent. Oncethe confirmation timer has reached a threshold value (e.g., a few hours,a day, etc.), determined at 405, the transaction is disallowed at 406.Until the timer threshold is reached, the method waits at 404 for theminimum specified number of users to confirm the request.

System and Method for Delegating Trust Between Client Devices

Existing authentication systems do not allow new authenticators to beenabled using registered authenticators on trusted clients. For example,if a user has a fingerprint sensor on her phone which she has registeredwith number of websites and then she installs a voice authenticator onher phone, she has no way to automatically register her voiceauthenticator with all the websites she was using with fingerprintsensor. Rather, in this case, the user must step through the sameenrollment and registration process to register the voice authenticatorwith the relying party. Similarly, if the user purchases a new devicewith a new set of authenticators, the user must re-enroll and reregisterall of the new authenticators with the server.

The embodiments of the invention described below allow a user to easilyenable and register the authenticator(s) on a new client device using atrusted client device that is already enabled and registered with one ormore relying parties. In particular, these embodiments may be used toenable new authenticators, enable new client devices, and keep theregistrations in sync between multiple client devices.

FIG. 5 provide a high level overview of trust delegation in accordancewith one embodiment of the invention. A trusted device 502, i.e., adevice which has an authenticator which is registered with one or morerelying parties 550, establishes a secure connection with the user's newclient device 500. The particular manner in which the secure connectionis established is not pertinent to the underlying principles of theinvention. Various techniques may be used such as near fieldcommunication (NFC), Bluetooth, Wifi Direct, using a quick response (QR)code and establishing an HTTPS connection. In one embodiment, thedevices may exchange a large random token (LRT) needed for a secureconnection and may establish a connection by providing the captured LRTto an online service and bootstrap a secure communication via theservice.

In one embodiment, once the secure connection is established between thetrusted client device 502 and new client device 500, a secure protocolis implemented (described in detail below) to transfer and integrate theregistration data from the trusted device to the new device. Once theregistrations have been transferred, another secure protocol isimplemented (e.g., HTTPS in one embodiment) between the new clientdevice 500 and relying parties 550 to verify the registrations.

While the embodiments described herein focus on transferringauthentication data used for authentication transactions with a relyingparty 550, the relying party may not be required for complying with theunderlying principles of the invention. For example, the trusted device502 may establish a secure connection to provide authentication data tothe new client device 500 without any relying party involved in thesystem (e.g., to provide authentication data for authenticating locallywith the new client device 500).

As illustrated in FIG. 6, a trust delegation module 600-601 may beexecuted on the new device 500 and trusted device 502, respectively, toestablish the secure connection, exchange the registrations, and verifythe registrations with a secure transaction service 604 on each relyingparty 550. As used herein, a “trusted authenticator” is an authenticatorthat a user has already registered with one or more relying parties. Anew “new authenticator” is one which the user wishes to enable with allthe relying party registrations currently being used with the trustedauthenticator. Thus, the authentication engine 311 is considered atrusted authenticator if it has previously registered one or more userauthentication devices 320-321 with a relying party. The goal of oneembodiment is to turn the authentication engine 310 of the new device500 from a new authenticator into a trusted authenticator. A “trusteddevice” is one which has a trusted authenticator and a “new device” isone which has a new authenticator.

Trust delegation refers to the process of enabling the new authenticatorusing a trusted authenticator. Thus, the preconditions of trustdelegation are: the user has a trusted device; the user has a newdevice; the user wants to delegate trust from trusted device to newdevice.

Returning to FIG. 6, in one embodiment, the user initiates the trustdelegation application 600 on the new client device 500 and the trustdelegation application 601 on the trusted client device to establish theinitial secure connection. In one embodiment, the trust delegationapplications may be mobile device apps, specifically designed to performthe trust delegation operations described herein. In another embodiment,the trust delegation applications may be browser plugins executed inresponse to the user indicating that he/she wishes to perform trustdelegation (e.g., via a web page with embedded Javascript or otherapplet or executable program code). Moreover, the trust delegationapplications 600-601 may be software modules within a larger applicationsuch as an authentication application designed to manage authenticationswith relying parties. It should be noted, however, that the underlyingprinciples of the invention are not limited to any particularimplementation of the trust delegation applications 600-601.

In one embodiment, to approve the trust delegation operations on thetrusted device 502, the user locally authenticates with theauthentication engine 311 on the trusted device (e.g., providingbiometric input to a user authentication device 322-323). Similarly, inone embodiment, the user may locally authenticate with theauthentication engine 310 on the new client device 500. These twoauthentication steps may provide authorization for the trust delegationapplications 600-601 to perform the delegation process.

As mentioned, the trust delegation applications 600-601 may utilize anyof the communication interfaces available on their respective clientdevices 500, 502 to establish a secure connection (e.g., Bluetoothinterfaces for a Bluetooth connection, NFC interfaces for an NFCconnection, etc).

Once the secure connection is established, in one embodiment, the trustdelegation application 601 of the trusted client 502 provides dataindicating the number of keys (N) on the trusted client which areregistered with relying parties. In response, in one embodiment, thetrust delegation application 600 generates N new device key pairs(ND_Uauth) including one private key (ND_Uauth.priv) and one public key(ND_Uauth.pub) and sends the N new device pubic keys to the trustdelegation application 601 on the trusted device 502.

In one embodiment, the trust delegation application 601 then signs eachof the N new device public keys with its corresponding trusted deviceprivate key (TD_Uauth.priv) to generate a signature (TD_Uauth.sig)associated with each of the N new device public keys. In one embodiment,the “corresponding” private key is the private key associated with aparticular registration with a corresponding relying party. The trustdelegation application 601 may also insert a timestamp into thegenerated signature which may subsequently be used by the relying partyto verify exactly when the trust delegation occurred. In one embodiment,the trust delegation application 601 of the trusted client 502 thentransmits each of the generated signatures along with other registrationdata associated with each relying party to the trust delegationapplication 600 on the new client 500. The data for each relying partymay include, one or more relying party ID codes (e.g., application IDcodes identifying services at the relying party), user names registeredfor the user at the relying party, key ID codes used by the relyingparty to locate the appropriate keys during authentication, and anyother data relevant to the authentication process.

In one embodiment, once the trust delegation application 600 receivesthe signatures and other registration data, it integrates this data intothe local secure storage device 325 so that it may be subsequently usedwhen the new client device 500 connects to the relying party 550.

In one embodiment, after the registration data base been stored in thelocal secure storage 325, a series of bootstrapping operations may beperformed by the trust delegation application 600 to leverage thedelegated registrations on the new client device 500 with relyingparties (e.g., websites, services, etc) that had previously beenregistered with the trusted client device 502. Alternatively, thedescribed bootstrapping operations may be performed by theauthentication engine 310 itself (via direct communication with thesecure transaction service 604 as shown in FIG. 6). The underlyingprinciples of the invention remain the same regardless of whichparticular software component on the new client device 500 performs theoperations.

In particular, in one embodiment, the secure transaction service 604 ofthe relying party 550 detects that there are registrations on the newclient device 500 using the remote authentication protocol supported bythe secure transaction service 602 and trust delegation application 600.In one embodiment, the user may initially be asked by the securetransaction service 604 to perform biometric authentication or otherform of authentication (e.g., entering a secure code) from the newclient device 500. In addition, at this stage, the secure transactionservice 604 may verify the timestamp inserted into the signature(s) andensure that the timestamp is not older than a threshold amount of time.

Assuming that the user successfully provides biometric or otherauthentication data at an acceptable assurance level, the trustdelegation application 600 and/or the new authenticator 310 prepare aresponse including the following three assertions:

1. An attestation over the new device public key associated with therelying party (ND_Uauth.pub). In one embodiment, the attestationcomprises a signature generated over the public key (e.g., using apublic key of the relying party).

2. An assertion using the new device private key associated with therelying party (ND_Uauth.priv). In one embodiment, to generate theassertion, the private key is used to generate a signature over contentknown by the relying party (e.g., such as a random challenge sent fromthe relying party). Because the relying party is provided with thepublic key (in step 1), it can decrypt the content, thereby verifyingthat the private key was used to encrypt the content.

3. The signature previously generated by the trusted client device andassociated with the new device public key for this particular relyingparty (TD_Uauth.sig) along with the key ID used by the relying party(TD_Uauth.keyid) to locate the public key (e.g., so that it may use thekey ID to query its secure transaction database 625 to retrieve thepublic key).

In one embodiment, all of the above data is then transmitted to thesecure transaction service 604 of the relying party in a remoteauthentication response.

In one embodiment, after receiving the above assertions, the securetransaction service 604 may perform the following verifications:

1. Locate the trusted device's public key (TD_Uauth.pub) using the keyID;

2. Verify the signature generated by the trusted device (TD_Uauth.sig)using the trusted device's public key (TD_Uauth.pub);

3. Verify the signature generated by the new device's private key(ND_Uauth.sig) using the new device's public key (ND_Uauth.pub); and

4. Verify the attestation over the new device public key associated withthe relying party (ND_Uauth.pub). In one embodiment, this verificationis performed using the private key of the relying party.

One embodiment of a method for securely transferring registration datafrom a trusted device to a new device is illustrated in FIG. 7 and oneembodiment of a method for verifying the registration data with therelying party is illustrated in FIG. 8. While these methods may beimplemented within the context of the system architectures shown inFIGS. 5-6, the underlying principles of the invention are not limited toany particular system architecture.

Turning first to FIG. 7, at 701, the new devices establishes a securecommunication channel with the trusted device and determines the number(N) of key pairs to generate. As mentioned, this may be the number ofkey pairs registered by the trusted device with relying parties.

At 702, the new device generates N new public/private key pairs. In analternate implementation which utilizes symmetric keys, the new devicemay generate a single (symmetric) key to be shared with the relyingparty. At 703, the N public keys are sent to the trusted device and, at704, the trusted device signs each public key with a correspondingprivate key to generate a signature. At 705, the signatures are sent tothe new device with other registration data for the relying party (e.g.,key IDs, application IDs, etc). Finally, at 706, all of the registrationdata and signatures are integrated within the local secure database(s)used by the authentication engine.

Turning now to FIG. 8, at 801 at new client (having already performedthe delegation operations from FIG. 7) establishes a secure connectionwith the relying party. At 802, the relying party detects that there areexisting registrations which have been delegated to the new device. Inresponse, at 803, the relying party makes an authentication request tothe new device. The user may then authenticate using one or morebiometric or other authentication techniques. As discussed above, at804, the new device prepares a response which includes an attestationover the new device public key, a signature generated with the newdevice private key (e.g., over a challenge), and the signature generatedwith the trusted device's private key and the associated key ID. At 805all of the data in the response is transmitted to the relying party and,at 806, the relying party verifies the data contained in the response(see above for details of one embodiment). If the verification issuccessful, then at 807 the transaction being attempted by the user ispermitted.

The techniques described herein may be used to delegate trust betweentwo authenticators on different devices (as described above). Inaddition, in one embodiment, these techniques may be used to delegatetrust between two authenticators on the same device. In this case, thesecure connection between two devices does not need to be establishedbut all of the other operations may be performed between the twoauthenticators within the device.

Moreover, it should be noted that some of the operations involved can beimplemented in various ways. For example the secure protocol fordelegating trust may be initiated by trusted device rather than the newdevice. In either case, the new device (or, more specifically, theauthenticator on the new device) may generate a number of new key pairs(ND_Uauth) and the authenticator on the trusted device may sign thepublic keys of these key pairs.

System and Method for Privacy-Enhanced Data Synchronization

Current systems exist for synchronizing data between multiple clientdevices using cloud services. When a user creates a new document on adevice (e.g., snaps a picture, creates a word processing document, etc)or modifies an existing document, a cloud service to which the user issubscribed will typically store a copy of the new/modified document “inthe cloud.” When the user accesses the cloud service from a seconddevice (e.g., a computer at work or a another device used by a differentfamily member), the cloud service may be configured to synchronize thedevice.

One problem which exists is that data is frequently stored in the cloudservice in an unencrypted format thereby making the data vulnerable tovarious types of cyber attacks and queries by federal agencies.

The embodiments of the invention described below provide a set ofprotocols and techniques which allow data to be synchronized amongdevices in a privacy-enhanced manner. Using these protocols andtechniques, cloud services never have access to data in plaintext (e.g.,unencrypted format), thereby preserving the user's privacy.

As an initial matter, it should be noted that the techniques describedbelow for synchronizing data among devices do not rely on the advancedauthentication techniques described herein. For example, thesesynchronizing techniques may be employed outside of the context of asystem for remote user authentication as described for other embodimentsof the invention. However, these synchronization techniques may be usedto perform synchronization for these remote user authenticationembodiments. For example, in one embodiment, the registration data foreach Website or other online service visited by the user may besynchronized among multiple devices using these synchronizationtechniques.

As used herein, a “circle” means a network of devices trusted by a userand “circle-id” means an identifier identifying a circle (e.g., onewhich cannot be easily guessed). A “circle-cloud” means an onlineservice which is used to store information about circles andtrust-chains (defined below) and acts as a communication hub for clientdevices. In one embodiment, the circle-cloud does not store anyconfidential data (at least not in an unencrypted format). The term“d.pub” refers to a device's public key, “d.priv” refers to the device'sprivate key and d.pub/d.priv refers to an asymmetric public/private keypair of a device d. In one embodiment, d.priv never leaves device d. The“trust-chain” means the persistent data stored on the circle-cloudcontaining information about devices trusted by user and theirrelationships. A “circle-channel” means a secure communication channelprovided by the circle-cloud that is used by two (or more) devices toexchange and synchronize data between them.

One embodiment of the invention comprises a protocol and associatedtechniques for allowing a new user device to (a) join a circle and (b)subsequently synchronize with the circle. These embodiments will bedescribed with respect to FIG. 9 which shows a three client devices901-903 each with a privacy sync application 911-913, respectively, forimplementing the protocols and techniques described herein and securedata storage 921-932, respectively, for storing data used for joiningand synchronizing. Device 901 is sometimes referred to herein as deviced1, device 902 is sometimes referred to as device d2, and device 903 issometimes referred to as device d3.

In one embodiment the joining and synchronizing are performed through acircle cloud 950 which includes a plurality of storage servers. A trustchain 960 within the circle cloud 950 maintains data defining trustrelationships between the devices 901-903 as described below. The circlechannel 970 comprises a secure communication channel provided by thecircle-cloud that is used by two or more devices to exchange andsynchronize data.

a. Joining the Circle

A device 902 (d2) joins an existing network of devices 901 (d1) and 903(d3) that belong to the user (i.e., the “circle” of trusted devices). Adevice 902 can join an existing circle only if another device 901, whichis already part of that circle, authorizes it.

One embodiment of a method for authorizing a new device 902 using atrusted device 901 is illustrated in FIG. 10. At 1001 a user authorizesthe new device 902 on an existing trusted device 901. For example, inone embodiment, the user may initiate its privacy sync application 911on the trusted device 901 and the privacy sync application 912 on thenew client device 902.

At 1002, in one embodiment, the privacy sync applications 911-912 causethe devices 901-902 to establish a secure connection. Various techniquesmay be used to establish the secure connection such as near fieldcommunication (NFC), Bluetooth, Wifi Direct, using a quick response (QR)code and establishing an HTTPS connection.

At 1003, device 901 sends secure data to the new device 902, referred toherein as “join1_data.” In one embodiment, the join1_data includes thefollowing fields: {d1.pub, sk.sym, circle-id}, where d1.pub is thepublic key of device 901, sk.sym is a randomly-generated session keygenerated by device 901, and the circle-id is a unique identificationcode identifying the circle which device 902 is joining.

At 1004, device 902 reads the join1_data and prepares a response whichmay include the following:

-   -   HMAC (sk.sym, d2.pub|T)|d2.pub|T where T is a timestamp    -   trust-block1=S(d2.priv, d1.pub)|d1.pub|d2.pub        Note that HMAC stands for Hash-Based Message Authentication        Code. In the above embodiment, the HMAC is generated by        concatenating the public key of device 902 with a timestamp and        protecting the integrity of the result with sk.sym using HMAC or        a similar algorithm. In addition, trust-block1 includes a        signature generated with device 902's private key over device        901's public key. In one embodiment, the trust-block1 entry also        includes a timestamp (T).

Returning to FIG. 10, At 1005 device 902 securely connects to thecircle-cloud 950 and transmits the response which includes the HMAC andtrust-block1. The circle-cloud 950 stores the data received by device901 and waits for device 901 to connect.

At 1006, device 901 connects to the circle cloud using the circle-id,validates the integrity of the data contained in device 902's responsefrom operation 1005, and generates trust-block2. In particular, in oneembodiment, device 901 reads and validates the integrity of d2.pub and Tusing sk.sym (e.g., using sk.sym to decrypt d2.pub and T). Device 901then signs d2.pub using its own private key, d1.priv and generatestrust-block2=S(d1.priv, d2.pub)|d2.pub|d1.pub, which comprises asignature generated over d2.pub with d1 priv. In one embodiment,trust-block2 also includes a timestamp (T). The device 901 then sendsthe above data including trust-block2 to the circle cloud 950.

At 1007, the circle-cloud 950 adds both trust-blocks to trust-chain 960.In one embodiment, after the above operations, device 902 joins thecircle associated with circle-id. All devices 901, 903 in this circletrust device 902 and device 902 trusts all of these devices. Note thatany trusted device can authorize a new device using the techniquesdescribed herein.

b. Sync with Circle

During this process the devices 901-903, belonging to the same circle,sync data between them. There can be different application-specificsub-protocols implemented on top of this process. For example, an onlinecloud storage application may want to keep user's data synchronized onall devices and keep the encrypted copy on circle-cloud. Anotherapplication may propagate messages to the devices in the circle. Forexample, in one embodiment, registration data used by one device toauthenticate with a remote relying party may be synchronized across alldevices in the circle. Various other applications and sub-protocols maybe implemented while still complying with the underlying principles ofthe invention. All such sub-protocols may use the foundational processblocks described below.

Trust-Chain

As demonstrated in the “Join the Circle” process (FIG. 10), what goesinto trust-chain 960 a proof which asserts that device2 is trusted bydevice1. Thus, a trust-chain 960 is a chain of authorization blocks eachof which asserts a trust relationship between two devices. In oneembodiment, a trust-chain is commutative, meaning that if device 901trusts device 902 then device 902 trusts device 901. The trust-chain 960is considered to be broken if there is a block asserting that device 901trusts device 902 and there is no block asserting that device 902 trustsdevice 901. In one embodiment, the trust-chain 960 is also transitive,meaning that if device 901 trusts device 902 and device 902 trustsdevice 903 then device 901 trusts device 903. In one embodiment, thetrust-chain is circle-id specific and it does not contain anyconfidential information about devices.

In one embodiment, the trust chain 960 comprises a plurality of trustblocks and each block includes the following data: {di.pub, dj.pub,S(di.priv, dj.pub), S(dj.priv, di.pub)}—i.e., the public keys of eachdevice and a signature generated using the private key of each deviceover the public key of each other device.

The above assertion means that device device di trusts device dj andvice versa. In one embodiment, the trust-chain 960 is used by devices901-902 to determine and verify which devices are in the circle. Afterthe devices verify that they are in the same circle, they may use thecircle-channel 970 to synchronize encrypted data between them.

In one embodiment, to determine whether device di is in the same circleas device dj the following operations are performed: (a) construct adirectional graph where each node is a device in trust-chain and eacharrow corresponds to a block in trust-chain and (b) determine if thereis a direct path connecting di and dj.

Circle-Channel

In one embodiment, the process illustrated in FIG. 11 is implemented tosynchronize data between other devices in the same circle. In theillustrated example, device 901 (d1) is the device that has new data andwants to send to other devices. At 1101, device 901 downloads thetrust-chain 960 associated with the circle-id, identifies the otherdevices in the same circle from the trust-chain (e.g., devices 902-903),and obtains the public keys of the other devices in the same circleusing the trust-chain.

At 1102, the device 901 generates a random encryption key (REK) (e.g.,using known techniques for random number generation). At 1103, device901 derives mutual session keys (SK) for each of the other devices inthe circle. In one embodiment, device 901 derives the SKs using theDiffie-Hellman key exchange algorithm with respect to each of the otherothers devices. Diffie-Hellman is a well known algorithm which allowstwo parties that have no prior knowledge of each other to jointlyestablish a shared secret key. In the instant case, for example, if afirst device has a key pair and provides its public key to a seconddevice, then the second device can automatically derive a new key (SK inthe instant application) independently using its private key and thefirst device's public key (and vice versa). In one embodiment, device901 uses these techniques to generate a different SK for each otherdevice 902, 903.

At 1104, the device 901 encrypts REK with each derived SK for eachdevice and binds the appropriate public keys with them. For example, fora device d1 which generates SKi and SKj for devices di and dj,respectively, it uses the session keys to encrypt REK as follows:

{d1.pub, di.pub, E(SKi, REK)} (for device di)

{d1.pub, dj.pub, E(SKj, REK)} (for device dj)

In at the end of the process, each of the devices di and dj are able todecrypt REK using their respective session keys (which have beenindependently derived by each device using Diffie-Hellman as discussedabove).

At 1105, device 901 encrypts the data to be synchronized with REK—i.e.,E(REK, data-to-be-synced). As mentioned, any data may be synchronized inthis manner such as multimedia files, productivity document, and/orclient configuration data (e.g., relying party registration data asdiscussed above), to name a few.

At 1107, device 901 provides to the circle channel the REK encryptedwith each SK and the data to be synchronized, encrypted with REK:

[{d1.pub, di.pub, E(SKi, REK)}, {d1.pub, dj.pub, E(SKj, REK)}, . . . ]

E(REK, data-to-be-synced)

After the data has been provided to the circle-channel, at 1106individual devices in the same circle download the record correspondingto their public key (e.g., {d1.pub, di.pub, E(SKi, REK)} for device di),derive the same SK (e.g., SKi), decrypt REK and use REK to decrypt thedata to be synchronized.

In one embodiment, a “join circle” operation as described above mayrequire user authentication on both device1 and device2. When thisprotocol is implemented using the remote authentication techniquesdescribed herein, a user may be required to, for example, “swipe” afinger to authenticate on both devices to initiate and complete the“join circle” process. By contrast, in one embodiment, syncing databetween devices as described may not require user authentication.

The protocol and associated techniques described herein allow networksof devices to be built that trust each other. Significantly, all datatransmitted to and from the cloud and stored within the cloud isencrypted. Consequently, data may be synchronized among the plurality ofdevices without storing any confidential data on cloud, resulting inimproved user privacy protection.

The embodiments of the invention described above implement a privatesynchronization protocol for device synchronization where theparticipating cloud storage cannot view any of the user's data inplaintext (i.e., data is encrypted in the cloud). These embodimentsincludes various novel and beneficial features including, but notlimited to:

-   -   A system and method implementing a device synchronization        protocol where device has a public and private key for        authorizing other devices.    -   A system and method which implement a trust-chain to indicate        trust relationships between devices within the same circle.    -   A system and method where devices use Diffie-Hellman or similar        key exchange algorithms to generate mutual session keys and        encrypt data with those keys.    -   A system and method where a hash of a circle-id is stored in a        circle-cloud instead of on the device itself.    -   A system and method where circle-cloud uses a challenge response        protocol to authenticate a device before allowing it to put any        data in circle's circle-channel.    -   A system and method where a permanent circle group key is used        to encrypt the syncing data    -   An application which uses the described private synchronization        protocols to share user's data (documents, files, photos, etc)        among multiple devices and stores the encrypted backup of data        on the cloud.    -   A system and method where the device's private key (d.priv) and        all operations that use this key are implemented inside an        authenticator for remotely authenticating a user over a network.    -   An application which uses the described private synchronization        protocols in combination with the embodiments of the invention        for performing user controlled trust delegation to a new device        to share authenticator registrations among a user's devices.    -   An application which uses the described private synchronization        protocols in combination with the embodiments of the invention        for performing user controlled trust delegation to a new device        to share new registrations among a user's devices where a user        doesn't need to authenticate with an authenticator every time        when a new registration is being delegated to other devices.    -   A set of authenticators belonging to the same user and forming a        circle, where these authenticators are using the private        synchronization protocols described above to sync authentication        key pairs in order to share registrations of a single        authenticator with other authenticators belonging to the same        circle.

Exemplary System Architectures

It should be noted that the term “relying party” is used herein torefer, not merely to the entity with which a user transaction isattempted (e.g., a Website or online service performing usertransactions), but also to the secure transaction servers implemented onbehalf of that entity which may performed the underlying authenticationtechniques described herein. The secure transaction servers may be ownedand/or under the control of the relying party or may be under thecontrol of a third party offering secure transaction services to therelying party as part of a business arrangement. These distinctions areindicated in FIGS. 12A-B discussed below which show that the “relyingparty” may include Websites 1231 and other network services 1251 as wellas the secure transaction servers 1232-1233 for performing theauthentication techniques on behalf of the websites and networkservices.

In particular, FIGS. 12A-B illustrate two embodiments of a systemarchitecture comprising client-side and server-side components forauthenticating a user. The embodiment shown in FIG. 12A uses a browserplugin-based architecture for communicating with a website while theembodiment shown in FIG. 12B does not require a browser. The varioususer confirmation and trust delegation techniques described herein maybe employed on either of these system architectures. For example, theauthentication engine 310, secure transaction application 304, and/ortrust delegation application 600 may be implemented as part of thesecure transaction service 1201 including interface 1202. It should benoted, however, that the embodiments described with respect to FIGS. 1-8may be implemented using logical arrangements of hardware and softwareother than those shown in FIGS. 12A-B.

Turning to FIG. 12A, the illustrated embodiment includes a client 1200equipped with one or more authentication devices 1210-1212 for enrollingand authenticating an end user. As mentioned above, the authenticationdevices 1210-1212 may include biometric devices such as fingerprintsensors, voice recognition hardware/software (e.g., a microphone andassociated software for recognizing a user's voice), facial recognitionhardware/software (e.g., a camera and associated software forrecognizing a user's face), and optical recognition capabilities (e.g.,an optical scanner and associated software for scanning the retina of auser) and non-biometric devices such as a trusted platform modules(TPMs) and smartcards. A user may enroll the biometric devices byproviding biometric data (e.g., swiping a finger on the fingerprintdevice) which the secure transaction service 1201 may store as biometrictemplate data in secure storage 1220 (via interface 1202).

While the secure storage 1220 is illustrated outside of the secureperimeter of the authentication device(s) 1210-1212, in one embodiment,each authentication device 1210-1212 may have its own integrated securestorage. Additionally, each authentication device 1210-1212 maycryptographically protect the biometric reference data records (e.g.,wrapping them using a symmetric key to make the storage 1220 secure).

The authentication devices 1210-1212 are communicatively coupled to theclient through an interface 1202 (e.g., an application programminginterface or API) exposed by a secure transaction service 1201. Thesecure transaction service 1201 is a secure application forcommunicating with one or more secure transaction servers 1232 over anetwork and for interfacing with a secure transaction plugin 1205executed within the context of a web browser 1204. As illustrated, theInterface 1202 may also provide secure access to a secure storage device1220 on the client 1200 which stores information related to each of theauthentication devices 1210-1212 such as a device identification code,user identification code, user enrollment data (e.g., scannedfingerprint or other biometric data), and keys used to perform thesecure authentication techniques described herein. For example, asdiscussed in detail below, a unique key may be stored into each of theauthentication devices and used when communicating to servers 1230 overa network such as the Internet.

In addition to enrollment of devices, the secure transaction service1201 may then register the biometric devices with the secure transactionservers 1232-1233 over the network and subsequently authenticate withthose servers using data exchanged during the registration process(e.g., encryption keys provisioned into the biometric devices). Theauthentication process may include any of the authentication techniquesdescribed herein (e.g., generating an assurance level on the client 1200based on explicit or non-intrusive authentication techniques andtransmitting the results to the secure transaction servers 1232-1233).

As discussed below, certain types of network transactions are supportedby the secure transaction plugin 1205 such as HTTP or HTTPS transactionswith websites 1231 or other servers. In one embodiment, the securetransaction plugin is initiated in response to specific HTML tagsinserted into the HTML code of a web page by the web server 1231 withinthe secure enterprise or Web destination 1230 (sometimes simply referredto below as “server 1230”). In response to detecting such a tag, thesecure transaction plugin 1205 may forward transactions to the securetransaction service 1201 for processing. In addition, for certain typesof transactions (e.g., such as secure key exchange) the securetransaction service 1201 may open a direct communication channel withthe on-premises transaction server 1232 (i.e., co-located with thewebsite) or with an off-premises transaction server 1233.

The secure transaction servers 1232-1233 are coupled to a securetransaction database 1240 for storing user data, authentication devicedata, keys and other secure information needed to support the secureauthentication transactions described below. It should be noted,however, that the underlying principles of the invention do not requirethe separation of logical components within the secure enterprise or webdestination 1230 shown in FIG. 12A. For example, the website 1231 andthe secure transaction servers 1232-1233 may be implemented within asingle physical server or separate physical servers. Moreover, thewebsite 1231 and transaction servers 1232-1233 may be implemented withinan integrated software module executed on one or more servers forperforming the functions described below.

As mentioned above, the underlying principles of the invention are notlimited to a browser-based architecture shown in FIG. 12A. FIG. 12Billustrates an alternate implementation in which a stand-aloneapplication 1254 utilizes the functionality provided by the securetransaction service 1201 to authenticate a user over a network. In oneembodiment, the application 1254 is designed to establish communicationsessions with one or more network services 1251 which rely on the securetransaction servers 1232-1233 for performing the user/clientauthentication techniques described in detail below.

In either of the embodiments shown in FIGS. 12A-B, the securetransaction servers 1232-1233 may generate the keys which are thensecurely transmitted to the secure transaction service 1201 and storedinto the authentication devices within the secure storage 1220.Additionally, the secure transaction servers 1232-1233 manage the securetransaction database 1240 on the server side.

Embodiments of the invention may include various steps as set forthabove. The steps may be embodied in machine-executable instructionswhich cause a general-purpose or special-purpose processor to performcertain steps. Alternatively, these steps may be performed by specifichardware components that contain hardwired logic for performing thesteps, or by any combination of programmed computer components andcustom hardware components.

Elements of the present invention may also be provided as amachine-readable medium for storing the machine-executable program code.The machine-readable medium may include, but is not limited to, floppydiskettes, optical disks, CD-ROMs, and magneto-optical disks, ROMs,RAMs, EPROMs, EEPROMs, magnetic or optical cards, or other type ofmedia/machine-readable medium suitable for storing electronic programcode.

Throughout the foregoing description, for the purposes of explanation,numerous specific details were set forth in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the invention. It will be apparent, however, to oneskilled in the art that the invention may be practiced without some ofthese specific details. For example, it will be readily apparent tothose of skill in the art that the functional modules and methodsdescribed herein may be implemented as software, hardware or anycombination thereof. Moreover, although some embodiments of theinvention are described herein within the context of a mobile computingenvironment, the underlying principles of the invention are not limitedto a mobile computing implementation. Virtually any type of client orpeer data processing devices may be used in some embodiments including,for example, desktop or workstation computers. Accordingly, the scopeand spirit of the invention should be judged in terms of the claimswhich follow.

I claim:
 1. A method for remote user confirmation of online transactionwith a relying party, the method comprising: detecting, via a securetransaction server of the relying party, a transaction between a firstuser and the relying party triggered by the first user of a first clientdevice over a network, and performing one or more authenticationtechniques, via authentication engine circuitry on the first clientdevice, to authenticate the first user to the relying party over thenetwork; identifying, via database querying circuitry, one or more otherusers who are required to confirm the transaction before allowing thetransaction to be performed, the one or more other users previouslyregistered with the relying party as approvers for the first user andare users other than the first user; transmitting notifications, vianotification generation logic circuitry, to the one or more other usersor a subset thereof indicating that a transaction has been triggered bythe first user, the notifications comprising a link which, uponselection by the one or more other users or subset thereof, providesdetails of the transaction being attempted by the first user; the one ormore other users or subset thereof confirming the transaction byperforming remote authentication via secure transaction program codeexecuted on a respective remote client device of the one or more otherusers or subset thereof with the relying party over the network, whereinthe secure transaction program code executed on the respective remoteclient device of the one or more other users or subset thereof is togenerate and transmit a token to the relying party responsive to asuccessful authentication, the token comprising a signature over thetransaction details and a nonce provided by the relying party; andpermitting the transaction between the first user and the relying partyresponsive to receiving the token from the remote client device of eachof the one or more other users or subset thereof.
 2. The method as inclaim 1 further comprising: the one or more other users or subsetthereof denying the transaction by not performing remote authenticationwith the relying party over the network.
 3. The method as in claim 1wherein the notifications comprise details of the transaction beingattempted by the first user.
 4. The method as in claim 1 furthercomprising: determining whether the transaction requires confirmation bythe one or more other users or subset thereof based on a set ofvariables associated with the transaction.
 5. The method as in claim 4wherein at least one of the variables comprises an amount of moneyinvolved in the transaction.
 6. The method as in claim 1 wherein some ofthe notifications are transmitted using a first type of datacommunication protocol and some of the notifications are transmittedusing a second type of data communication protocol.
 7. The method as inclaim 6 wherein the first type of data communication protocol comprisesa text messaging protocol and the second type of data communicationprotocol comprises email.
 8. The method as in claim 6 wherein the firsttype of data communication protocol and/or the second type of datacommunication protocol comprises a push notification protocol.
 9. Themethod as in claim 1 wherein remote authentication with the relyingparty over the network further comprises: capturing biometric data orother authentication data input by a user on a remote client devicecommunicatively coupled to the relying party over the network; andgenerating an assurance level that the user is a legitimate user based,at least in part, on the biometric data.
 10. The method as in claim 9wherein the biometric data is captured with a fingerprint authenticator,voice recognition authenticator, and/or face recognition authenticator.11. The method as in claim 9 further comprising: performing one or morenon-intrusive authentication techniques; and adjusting the assurancelevel based, at least in part, on the one or more non-intrusiveauthentication techniques.
 12. The method as in claim 11 wherein one ofthe non-intrusive authentication techniques comprises: detecting acurrent location of the client based on data from a location sensor; andif the user is in an expected location, then adjusting the assurancelevel upward and if the user is in an unexpected location, the adjustingthe assurance level downward.
 13. The method as in claim 12 whereinanother one of the non-intrusive authentication techniques comprisesdetermining an amount of time since the last explicit userauthentication and responsively adjusting the assurance level based onan amount of time which has elapsed.
 14. A system for remote userconfirmation of online transaction with a relying party, the systemcomprising: a secure transaction server of the relying party to detect atransaction triggered by a first user of a first client device over anetwork and to responsively perform one or more authenticationtechniques, via authentication engine circuitry on the first clientdevice, to authenticate the first user over the network; a database tostore user data, wherein the relying party is to query the database toidentify one or more other users who are required to confirm thetransaction before allowing the transaction to be performed, the one ormore other users previously registered with the relying party asapprovers for the first user and are users other than the first user;notification generation logic circuitry of the relying party to transmitnotifications to the one or more other users or a subset thereofindicating that a transaction has been triggered by the first user, thenotifications comprising a link which, upon selection by the one or moreother users or subset thereof, provides details of the transaction beingattempted by the first user; and secure transaction program codeexecuted on a respective remote client device of the one or more otherusers or subset thereof to confirm the transaction by performing remoteauthentication with the relying party over the network, the securetransaction program code executed on the respective remote client deviceof the one or more other users or subset thereof further to generate andtransmit a token to the relying party responsive to a successfulauthentication, the token comprising a signature over the transactiondetails and a nonce provided by the relying party; wherein there relyingparty is to permit the transaction triggered by the first userresponsive to receiving the token from the remote client device of eachof the one or more other users or subset thereof.
 15. The system as inclaim 14 wherein the one or more other users or subset thereof can denythe transaction by not performing remote authentication with the relyingparty over the network.
 16. The system as in claim 14 wherein thenotifications comprise details of the transaction being attempted by thefirst user.
 17. The system as in claim 14 wherein the relying partydetermines whether the transaction requires confirmation by the one ormore other users or subset thereof based on a set of variablesassociated with the transaction.
 18. The system as in claim 17 whereinat least one of the variables comprises an amount of money involved inthe transaction.
 19. The system as in claim 14 wherein some of thenotifications are transmitted using a first type of data communicationprotocol and some of the notifications are transmitted using a secondtype of data communication protocol.
 20. The system as in claim 19wherein the first type of data communication protocol comprises a textmessaging protocol and the second type of data communication protocolcomprises email.
 21. The method as in claim 6 wherein the first type ofdata communication protocol and/or the second type of data communicationprotocol comprises a push notification protocol.
 22. The system as inclaim 14 wherein remote authentication with the relying party over thenetwork comprises: an authentication engine capturing biometric data orother authentication data input by a user on a remote client devicecommunicatively coupled to the relying party over the network; andgenerating an assurance level that the user is a legitimate user based,at least in part, on the biometric data.
 23. The system as in claim 22wherein the biometric data is captured with a fingerprint authenticator,voice recognition authenticator, and/or face recognition authenticator.24. The system as in claim 9 further comprising: non-intrusiveauthentication logic performing one or more non-intrusive authenticationtechniques; and adjusting the assurance level based, at least in part,on the one or more non-intrusive authentication techniques.
 25. Thesystem as in claim 24 wherein one of the non-intrusive authenticationtechniques comprises: detecting a current location of the client basedon data from a location sensor; and if the user is in an expectedlocation, then adjusting the assurance level upward and if the user isin an unexpected location, the adjusting the assurance level downward.26. The system as in claim 25 wherein another one of the non-intrusiveauthentication techniques comprises determining an amount of time sincethe last explicit user authentication and responsively adjusting theassurance level based on an amount of time which has elapsed.
 27. Themethod as in claim 1, wherein the link in the notifications is ahyperlink that redirects the one or more other users or subset thereofto a web page for providing the details of the transaction beingattempted by the first user.